If drugs that could become available within three years work as designed, there could be nearly 500,000 fewer cases of Alzheimer’s disease each year, an Alzheimer’s Association scientist said Thursday in Oxnard.

“It would change everything,” said Dr. Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs for the association. “If this works, the impact would be enormous.”

Speaking between sessions of an Oxnard conference aimed at professional caregivers and others, Fargo cited the roughly 50 Alzheimer’s drugs in clinical studies. Many are designed to take the leap and stop the progression of the disease in its early stages.

Current medications are focused only on addressing symptoms, not the underlying disease.

The new drugs would not reverse deterioration to the brain but could dramatically reduce, maybe eliminate, the almost 500,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s coming each year, Fargo said.

About 5.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, according to Alzheimer’s Association estimates. In Ventura County, 13,884 people 65 and older were estimated to be living with Alzheimer’s in 2015.

The number was projected to grow to 25,481 by 2030.

Nationwide, women make up about two-thirds of the people facing Alzheimer’s, also comprising about two-thirds of the caregivers.

African-Americans and Latinos are at higher risk for the disease for reasons that are not fully understood. Of the nearly 14,000 estimated cases in Ventura in 2015, more than 5,600 likely involved Latinos.

“Alzheimer’s is the health care crisis of the century,” said Rhonda Spiegel, CEO of an Alzheimer’s Association chapter that includes Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

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A breakthrough is closer than many people realize, said Fargo. He cited a drug called aducanumab that’s designed to stop the advance of Alzheimer’s. It’s in a phase-three clinical study where the drug’s effectiveness is assessed.

If it does work and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it could be available in two or three years, Fargo said. And if the drug doesn’t work, one of the dozen of others in studies could do better.

“We have a lot of shots on goal,” he said.

Fargo credited the improving prognosis to imaging advancements that allow scientists to study the amyloid plaques that build up on the brain. He said a dramatic increase in government funding has ushered in a golden age of Alzheimer’s research.

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“Eventually, we will defeat this disease,” he said. “There will be a time in the not too distant future that we look at Alzheimer’s as we look at polio.”

The annual conference covered pressures facing caregivers as well as research suggesting a link between depression and dementia. The first signs of dementia may not always revolve around memory loss but may on occasion be linked to symptoms often attached to schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions.

Doug Pace, director of mission partnerships with the Alzheimer’s Association, focused on the importance of person-centered care. It means having staffs in nursing homes and other care centers really know their patients and work to engage them.

He polled the audience on whether a dementia patient should be involved in putting together his or her care plan. A vast majority said yes, earning Pace’s praise.

New research suggests that changes to your speech may indicate you're developing thinking problems. More pauses, filler words and other verbal changes could be a sign of early mild cognitive impairment, which can lead to Alzheimer's disease. (July 17)
AP